Strategies for Overcoming Anxiety

Our current lifestyle seems to have contributed significantly in making anxiety and stress prevalent in our society. Anxiety has seeped into our mindset that even simple situations can cause anxiety. We dilly-dally over ordinary tasks like calling up for appointments, choosing what clothes to wear for an important occasion or function, showing up for a party where we do not know most of the guests and other similar situations. Anxiety seems to rise from the thought that others will see you and judge you based on how you appear and how you behave. Anticipating what other people will think and feel about you seems to trigger anxiety.

Anxiety is closely linked to being nervous, apprehensive, afraid, and insecure. It can refer to the jitters you get when you have to give a speech, appear for an interview, or take a test. This is mild anxiety, usually temporary and fuzzy in nature, a general sense of uneasiness. There are people, however, who become upset, distressed, and worried over the slightest thing constantly. Anxiety then becomes a chronic condition so bad that it triggers health-related tribulations which manifest themselves not just on the physical level, but on the socio/emotional plane, as well.

Acute anxiety can be on a short-term basis. It is also referred to as a panic attack. Brought on by a specific, anticipated ill, it can result in symptoms affecting not only the person’s physical health, but how he thinks, feels, and behaves as well. If these attacks are constantly provoked by reasons with or without basis, they can have serious repercussion in one’s general sense of well-being.

Anxiety, especially the more common mild variety, is hardly as serious as cancer or leukemia. It is not life-threatening, in the medical sense. However, it can be a genuine pain in the neck for those who have it on a continuing basis. Overcoming anxiety is therefore very important to most of us.

Finding a way to get over our tendency to become anxious at the drop of a hat is hardly rocket science. But it IS difficult, simply because the triggers may vary from person to person. The roots of anxiety for one person are likely to be far different from those of another person. Thus, there is no absolute single cure for one and all. That being said, however, you can take simple, practical steps for overcoming anxiety.

Anxiety is brought on by outside forces in our lives. The pressure in our jobs, difficulties with a spouse, or with children, for that matter, financial strain, changes, major or minor, we have to go through – all these may result in feelings of unease and apprehension. We may be lucky enough to get by with just a queasy sensation in the pit of our bellies. In some cases, though, the anxiety manifests itself in some graver form – constant headaches, stomach aches, fatigue, and a sinking sense that we are not in control.

How do you go about overcoming anxiety? Everything begins by trying to see things in perspective. We sometimes get overwhelmed by situations because we lose our sense of reality. We cannot think of anything else except the specific problems causing our anxiety.

It is time to step back and become objective. Just what exactly is the worst that can happen to you given this particular problem? When you take time out to think about it, you will realize that the situation is not at all that bad. This realization will dispel, or at least minimize, your anxiety.

Maintain a happy disposition. Try to stay in high spirits. An positive upbeat attitude goes a long way in quelling anxiety attacks even before they take solid form and overpower you. Pursue hobbies or activities which satisfy. Stay physically active. Pursuits of this type produce what is commonly referred to as the “happy hormones” — melatonin, serotonin, and endorphin.